Avenger Juniors
by Darth Tromeros
Summary: It was another boring day at SHIELD- until Loki hit the Avengers with a ray that turned them into babies. Natasha Romanoff, the only Avenger not to be hit by the ray, is now stuck in charge taking care of the babies and taking down Loki. What chaos will ensue? ***UPDATED FINALLY***
1. Chapter 1

Bruce bent over the flasks, studying the chemicals closely. He stared through the rim of the glasses, tapping the glasses with the eraser of his pencil. Slowly standing back up, he wrote down a few things on a clipboard.

"Remind me what you're doing again?" Tony asked, stuffing his mouth with blueberries. "This isn't really your job."

Bruce took off his glasses. "It's… weird to explain," he murmured.

Tony shrugged and turned around to see Steve slumped up against the wall. "What's up with you, Capsicle?" he asked.

Steve shrugged. "I don't know," he said. "I don't really want to do anything right now."

Tony shifted his sight to Clint, who was busy doing something with his bow. Thor stood over Clint, watching his work silently. Natasha rested her cheek on her hand in the corner of the lab, her fingers in her hair. Lifting her head up, she said, "I'm going to go see if anybody needs anything." She headed out of the lab.

Clint looked up from his bow. "Slow day today," he said.

"No kidding," Tony muttered back.

The room was engulfed in silence. Bruce went back to tapping the glasses again. Thor was now amusing himself with a piece of fluff on his arm. Steve had his hands wrapped around his jaw. Nobody looked at each other. Nobody said a word.

Then there was a flash.

Natasha entered the lab. "Hey, I saw a flash come from here. Are you guys al—" She stopped. Nobody was there. Her body stiffening, she looked around for any sign of them. Her eyebrow raised, she turned to leave the room when she heard what sounded like a baby gurgle.

"What the—" She looked down to see a toddler with dark brown hair and a tiny Black Sabbath t-shirt staring back up at her. He giggled, drool spilling out of his mouth. Natasha jerked her leg back, a mix between terror and confusion on her face. She looked back a little further to see a little blonde boy lying on his back wearing a plaid shirt with a jacket, his toes in his mouth. He pulled his foot away from his face and laughed. Turning her head to the right, she saw two more toddlers, one wearing a black suit and holding an arrow in his head, the other one sporting long blonde hair and laughing as the toddler with the arrow swung the weapon around.

She sprinted out of the room. "Fury!" she yelled. People stuck their heads out of the rooms they were in, watching her interestedly. "Fury!" she called again. She burst into the room where Fury was at. He glanced over his shoulder, giving her a menacing glare.

"Agent Romanoff," he started. "Please tell me you have a perfectly good reason for bursting in here like a maniac."

"The Avengers, sir," she said, her eyes growing wide. "They're—they're babies!"

He stared at her. "What?" His voice carried a mocking tone.

"Sir, they're babies!"

"Agent Romanoff—"

"I'm not kidding! Come look!"

Fury gave an exasperated glance at the other workers in the room. "I'll be back soon." He shook his head and followed Natasha.

She took him to the room. "Look at this," she breathed. Baby Steve was sitting in the middle of the room, staring at the ceiling. He had a tiny smile on his face, and gurgling noises came from his throat. "Where's the rest?" she exclaimed.

Fury wasn't focused on that fact. His eyes were locked on Steve. He walked slowly towards the toddler, kneeling down and picking him up. Fury's hands startled Steve, causing Steve to start whimpering. "Don't cry," Fury said softly. He held Steve in his hands, looking at him nicely. "Calm down, little one."

Natasha stared at him, horrified. Nick Fury was acting like a _parent? _She turned away, feeling a tad bit sick. Since when had he learned that? "Sir," she said. "The rest of the babies are gone."

Another baby noise was heard. They bother looked at Steve, but Steve had his eyes closed and was slowly falling asleep. Natasha went behind the lab bench to see one last toddler with wavy black hair and tiny glasses in a purple shirt, hitting a clipboard ferociously on the ground. He laughed wildly at his source of entertainment.

Natasha glanced back at Fury, who was now rocking Steve. Clearing her throat, she picked up Bruce and said, "Sir."

Fury looked up at her and saw Bruce in her arms. Bruce was sucking his finger, staring at something down on the floor. The toddler laughed suddenly, a wicked but cute sounding laugh. He squirmed in her arms, reaching out towards the chemicals in the flasks on the bench. "No, no," she said, taking a few steps away. He still tried to reach them.

She glanced back at Fury. "What do we do?"

Fury looked down at Steve, who had his thumb in his mouth and was fast asleep. Fury gave a small smile. "We try to find out who did it and reverse the effects."

"I bet you everything I own I know who did it."

Fury gave her a small nod to let her know to continue.

"Who's this mischievous? Loki."

"Loki," he chimed. He stared down at Steve for a few moments longer before looking back up at Natasha. "Agent, we need to find the rest of the toddlers, put them in a room, and find Loki. I'm putting you in charge of the Avengers until further notice."

Her eyes widened. "Sir, I'm an agent, not a caretaker. Are you sure—"

"If I wasn't, would I be putting you there?" He stood up and handed her Steve. "There's an intern who'll watch them for you in your room as you find the others." He started to leave before turning around one last time. "And that's an order."

Natasha watched him leave. She looked down at the two toddlers. Bruce was hitting Steve, causing Steve to stir from his slumber. "Knock it off!" she told Bruce. He stopped abruptly and looked up at her with wide eyes. She sighed—and then groaned at the task laid before her.


	2. Chapter 2

Natasha rounded the corner, looking all over for any sign of a toddler. She had never felt this jittery in her life. She could go through hundreds of men raining gunfire on her without being frightened at all, but she jumped at every noise when trying to find three toddlers? Exhaling, she realized she could never be a mother. Or at least not a normal one. But when you're a secret agent, how could you be normal at all?

There was a clatter from the kitchen as she passed it. Somebody shrieked. She froze for a moment before heading backwards. Peering inside, there sat a toddler with long blonde hair, tipping the refrigerator off the ground towards him. Toddler Thor was laughing, his eyes partially closed as he laughed. The cook tried to get him to put the refrigerator down, but he disregarded them, still laughing wildly. "No, no, baby," the cook was saying as Natasha stepped in. "You'll hurt yourself!"

"Hey, need some help?" Natasha asked. Both the cook's and Thor's attention turned to her, the refrigerator now tipping over precariously. Natasha's eyes shot over to the refrigerator as it lost its balance, causing her to roll across the ground and grab Thor just as the refrigerator landing with a deafening _thud_. Everybody stared at the fallen refrigerator, the cook whitening and murmuring something quickly about lunch. Thor's lip trembled as he started sobbing.

"Oh no!" Natasha groaned. She stared at Thor. "What do I do?" she cried.

The cook started pacing across the floor, her incomprehensive mutterings turning into panicked cries.

Natasha held Thor out at arms length, staring at him with uncertainty. How do you get a baby to shut up? She pulled him back in as he started squirming and rocked him awkwardly. "Hush little baby, don't say a word," she started. What was the rest of the lullaby? "Momma's gonna' buy you a mocking bird." She wasn't really singing; it was more of her talking to a certain rhythm and changing the pitches and tones of her voice. "If that mocking bird don't sing, momma's gonna' buy you a diamond ring."

Thor calmed down some, still sniffling and tears still trickling down his face. "Um," Natasha stalled. "If that… diamond ring don't… um..." Thor started getting ready to cry again.

"No, don't cry!" she pleaded, but Thor started too. Natasha, getting ready to burst into tears herself, hurried out of the kitchen. _Someone _should know how to get a baby to shut up. Before she left, she leaned into the kitchen and said to the cook, "I'm so sorry! I'll get someone down here!"

The cook watched her with a blank expression before slumping down on the ground and holding her knees to her chest.

Thor wailed as she ran through the hallways, people staring at her with strange expressions as she passed. Natasha wondered how bad it would be with five toddlers, considering how overwhelmed she was with just one after five minutes.

A janitor passed by Natasha. She screeched to a stop. "The refrigerator in the kitchen fell over!" she panted.

The janitor stared at her. "How'd it do that?"

"Long story," she said quickly, "just get down there."

The janitor's glance changed from Natasha to Thor. "Where'd the baby come from?"

Natasha whimpered as she started running again. "Agent Romanoff, what are you doing?" Maria Hill spat as Natasha ran past her.

Stopping, Natasha gave a desperate smile to her. "Maria!" she exclaimed.

"Agent Hill," Maria said.

Natasha rolled her eyes. "Aren't we on first name basis?"

"Well, actually—"

Natasha thrust Thor forward. "Do you know how to make babies stop crying?"

Taken aback, Maria stuttered, "Um, well, I—I could try."

Sighing with relief, Natasha handed the baby to her. "Thank you!"

Maria took Thor uncertainly and started rocking him. She murmured a few things to him, and he calmed down, eventually closing his eyes.

Natasha stared at her with disbelief. "How did you—"

"That's one thing you have to learn, Agent Romanoff," Maria started, handing Thor back to her. "To be gentle."

"Thank you!" Natasha said again, started to head off with Thor.

"Wait!" Maria called. Natasha stopped and turned around to face her. "Where'd you get the baby?"

Natasha looked from Maria to Thor and back again. "I honestly don't know," Natasha said. "We think its Loki."

Maria, still a bit confused, said, "Oh, okay. I think I heard there's another toddler somewhere—"

"Where?" Natasha sped back to Maria.

"Over by the training room—"

"How'd they get down there?" Natasha exclaimed, running towards the stairs. "Thanks!"

Maria watched her run before massaging her temples. "I need paid more," she murmured.


	3. Chapter 3

Natasha hurried down the hallway towards the training room. She ran her fingers through her hair, trying to calm down as best as she could. She was a trained agent. This was practically nothing!

Turning the corner, she heard a shout from the training room. Running towards it, she peeked her head in to see another agent staring at something with their arms held out, palms face up. "Now, now, put them down," the agent said in a nervous way.

A squeal of a toddler was heard and an arrow went whizzing through the air.

"Clint!" Natasha breathed, running inside the gym. Thor squirmed in her arm. She looked over at the agent. "Can you please hold him for a moment?" She handed Thor over to him. "Thank you!"

Another arrow shot by her ear, the wind barely moving her hair. She turned around to see Clint holding an arrow in one hand and an oversized bow in the other. The bow was being hit uselessly against the ground. He threw the arrow again, laughing wildly as it flew, hitting the ground a few feet away from Natasha. Eagerly, Clint picked up another arrow, put his mouth around the middle, and chewing on it.

"Clint?" Natasha said gently. Clint's gaze moved from the floor to Natasha and back to the floor again. "Clint, sweetie?" Clint looked up once again at Natasha. He stopped chewing on the arrow and smiled widely, drool around his bottom lip. He gurgled happily, hitting the arrow on the floor. Natasha smiled back at him, bending down on one knee. "Clint, I need you to put down the arrow." Clint looked at the object in his hand with a puzzled expression. Looking back up at Natasha, he waved the arrow and made a questioning noise. "Yes, put that down," she said.

Clint stared back down at the arrow before glancing back up at Natasha. Smiling a rather stupid smile, he threw it, closing his eyes and making a happy noise. The arrow, headed straight towards Natasha, was suddenly jerked out of the air by Natasha. She held the arrow in her hand, breathing heavily at the almost impact. Clint stared up at her, awe on his face before he burst into laughter. He picked up another arrow and threw that as well, Natasha catching it.

Now he was in a fit of giggles. Grasping another arrow, he was getting ready to toss it when Natasha snatched the arrow out of his hand. "No, no, honey," she said. Clint stared at her for a few seconds. "Oh, no," Natasha said, realizing what was about to happen. His lower lip trembled before tears started pouring out of his eyes. Wailing, he flailed his arms around, reaching for the arrow that Natasha kept out of his reach. "Shh," Natasha said, picking up Clint. "Don't cry." She rocked him rather awkwardly in her arms. "It's okay," she murmured. His cries started to quiet down to sniffles. "That's a good boy, Clint," she told him kindly.

Clint's sniffles turned into content gurgles as she rocked him.

Standing up, she headed over to the other agent. "I'll be taking him, now," she said. The agent stared at Thor and Clint.

"Where did the babies come from?" he exclaimed.

With a tired sigh, Natasha answered, "We're not sure." She took Thor in one arm and left. Clint poked Thor. Thor stirred a little. Giggling now, Clint poked Thor again and again and again. Now shaking with laughter, he swatted Thor. Thor's eyes slowly opened.

"Clint!" Natasha snapped. Clint yanked his hand back and stared up at Natasha with wide, innocent eyes. "Don't."

Clint looked at Thor again. "Don't," Clint imitated. He giggled as Natasha's eyes grew. Was that his first word—in this form, that is? Shaking her head clear, she headed to her room. Nervousness swirled around inside of her, wondering where in the world Tony went. Was he still the genius he was? She shuddered at the thought of what a genius baby could do.

"Don't!" Clint yelled gleefully. He chortled again, moving his arms around, hitting Natasha lightly in the chest. "Don't, don't, don't!" Screaming with laughter, he wriggled his whole body.

"Clint, stop moving," she muttered.

He kept moving.

"Stop, Clint!" she told him angrily.

Freezing, his eyes were locked on Natasha's again, giving her the puppy-eyes look. Natasha's frustration didn't clear up at all.

Now at her room, she started unlocking her door. "Don't!" Clint was shouting again.

As the door swung open, she suddenly remembered the intern. Why was the door locked when the intern was inside? She stepped into the room, freezing at the sight. Some of her furniture had been shifted slightly, things on her dresser and shelves now lying in the ground uselessly. Her bed covers were halfway on the floor, the rest lopsided on the bed. One of the drawers in her dresser was open, her underwear strewn across the ground. Her face growing hot at her underwear drawer being open, she took a few more steps in to see the intern, against the wall with her knees pulled up to her chest.

"I tried, I really tried," the intern started. "But they were too much. The blonde one wasn't that bad, but the one with the wavy black hair—I don't know what happened. I didn't do something he wanted and he turned green and managed to get the door open and left, the blonde one following him." The intern continued to ramble as Clint settled down in Natasha's arms, his eyes droopy.

"Excuse me, but can I give these two to you?" Natasha asked, interrupting the intern. The intern stopped suddenly, her eyes growing wide. "Don't worry, these two are asleep!" She stretched her arms out as far as the toddlers would allow her too, showing the intern them. The intern stood up, and trembling, took the toddlers and set them on the bed.

"Make sure you take the hammer away from the blonde one," Natasha said. "Usually you can't lift it, but it's so tiny now I think you could." She gestured at the miniature Mjolnir. "If not… try to somehow separate them, I guess. It'll get bad if you don't." The intern whimpered.

Clint stirred, stretching his arms out. Natasha immediately placed her hand on him, rubbing his mid section until Clint fell back asleep. "Make sure that one doesn't get a hold of anything that could hurt you. He likes to throw things."

The intern stared at the two toddlers. "What are their names?"

"Thor and Clint," Natasha answered.

"As in Thor and Agent Barton?" The intern's eyes widened. "What happened?"

"We're not sure," Natasha sighed.

"And those other two—Steve and Bruce?"

Natasha nodded.

"Oh, no!" The intern rubbed her forehead with her hand.

"I know," Natasha answered. "We're trying to figure this out. In the meantime, we need to get all of them together. What's your name, intern?"

"Megan," the intern answered. "A pleasure to help you, Agent Romanoff."

"You can call me Natasha for now," Natasha told her. "With these toddlers, I think we can forget formality."

Megan gave a tiny smile. "So, what are you going to do now?"

"Find Tony, Steve, and Bruce," Natasha said. "You just watch these two for now."

Megan nodded, turning to the toddlers. "Be back soon… hopefully," Natasha told her, jogging out the door. Going down the hallway, Natasha massaged her temples. She knew toddlers were tiresome—but five toddlers with superpowers and intelligence? Talk about a migraine.


	4. Chapter 4

Natasha paced through the hallways, trying to find any sign of the toddlers. She would catch glimpses of brown hair and a devilish smirk, but every time she would look back there would be no Tony. Other times she thought she saw a cute face sporting blonde hair, but there was no Steve. A flash of wavy black hair and glasses also caught her eye, but no Bruce was to be found.

She mentally catalogued this moment in her mind as one of the few times she was genuinely frightened.

A boom came from the lab that all the Avengers turned into babies at. She stopped suddenly, flipping around on her heels and running to the area. The room was in a hazy dark purple smoke. Between coughs, she heard a squeal of happiness come from the other side of the room.

Bracing herself, she barged through the smoke. Through the fog, she saw two lenses glimmer. "Bruce," she sighed to herself, relieved.

A giggle came from the table where she saw the toddler. She neared it and saw him waving his arms, his shirt, a tad bit over-sized, flopping his hands around uselessly. "Bruce," Natasha said in a loud but sweet tone.

Smiling lopsidedly, he looked over at Natasha and gave a jolly coo.

"It's Auntie Nat," she told him, picking him up. Holding him in her arms, she silently thanked whoever for making sure he wasn't in Hulk form when she found him.

Another giggle was heard, but Bruce was gazing contently at the fog, not saying a word. "What…?" Natasha wondered out loud to herself, turning around. A fan that didn't seem to be working before blew the fog away, clearing a patch to see Tony holding a screwdriver. He was smiling widely at the fan, holding the back cover that covered the batteries up. Plopping it on, he managed to stick the screwdriver inside the screw and twist it back on.

Natasha gazed wide-eyed at the fact that a two or three-year-old just replaced the batteries in a fan. She took a few steps towards Tony. "Hi, Tony," Natasha told him, wearing a fake smile.

Tony's attention switched from the fan to Natasha. He beamed at her, holding the screwdriver up.

"I see that you fixed the fan," Natasha added, looking back over at the fan.

"Yeah," Tony said happily in a sweet voice toddlers have, sitting on the chair next to the side table that held the fan.

Natasha frowned, assuming that somebody brought the chair and table and fan in to the lab. Surely Tony couldn't have.

She looked down at Bruce, who was still staring up at the ceiling with the same peaceful look on his face. Not tiny Hulk either. Wouldn't he have destroyed it?

Shaking the thought out of her head, she picked Tony up as well. "How about we have some fun somewhere else?"

Tony nodded, his eyes bright still at his success with the fan. Natasha started to head out of the lab, when Bruce's expression changed from satisfied to shocked. "No," he said suddenly, fighting at Natasha's arms.

"What, Bruce?"

Bruce pointed at the lab, which was now almost completely free of the smoke.

"No, Bruce. We don't want you to hurt yourself."

Bruce's lip trembled. Natasha panicked for a brief second before preparing herself for the crying. "But boom!" Bruce said, his eyes watering.

"No means no, Bruce," Natasha told him in a calm voice. "We have to go."

Bruce's face contorted in anger. "No!" he screamed, kicking now.

"Ow!" Tony yelled as Bruce's foot hit his arm. Tony looked up at Natasha, a hurt expression on his face.

"Bruce, tell Tony sorry for kicking him."

"NO!" Bruce closed his eyes and trembled, his skin gaining a hint of green.

Tony's hurt turned into interest as he watched Bruce change colors. He giggled a little as Natasha started to panic again.

"Bruce, calm down."

"NO!" Bruce was now completely green, his body swelling to where he now completely fit in his clothes. Looking up angrily at Natasha, he hit her shoulder.

"Hey!" Natasha yelled. "Stop throwing a temper tantrum!"

"NO!" Bruce shouted again, still hitting her.

"Bruce, it's not nice to hit people!"

His teeth sunk into her arm suddenly. She yelped, letting her grip go just a tad bit. He slipped out of it, hitting the ground with a thud before standing back up and running out of the lab. Yelling something in toddler in a taunting way, he disappeared around the corner.

Tony giggled again. "Funny," he said, throwing his hands over his mouth as he laughed.

Natasha groaned internally. Who know the only person who could escape from Natasha was a baby Hulk?

Turning to Tony, she said, "Tony, I'm going to give you to a friend and she's going to watch you. Can you be a good boy and not play with any tools?"

He stuck his lip out and pouted. "Tools fun," he whined.

"I know, but I don't want you playing with anything without me around."

"But friend!"

"Not with her."

He crossed his arms as he pouted. "No."

"I need to get Bruce, Tony!" she cried, exasperated. "He's going to ruin a lot of things!"

"But tools!"

"Tools ruin a lot of things too! I need to get Bruce _now_, and you will listen to me!"

Tony looked at the floor and huffed angrily. Done talking to him, she ran out towards her room. A toddler Hulk roar echoed through the hallways. She whimpered slightly, hoping not to much damage was taking place.

"Agent Romanoff!"

Natasha stopped suddenly, spinning around to see Nick Fury. "Yes, sir?"

Fury stared down at Tony. "Is this Stark?"

"Yes, and now I need to get Bruce who's in Hulk mode right now."

"Why is Stark angry?" Fury asked, apparently ignoring the Hulk thing.

"I won't let him play with tools. Now, I need to get Bruce!"

"Give me Tony," Fury instructed her, holding his arms out.

She passed Tony to him. Tony stared up at Fury and looked back at Natasha. "Friend?" he asked, still angry.

"Yes," she answered.

Tony gazed up at Fury and blew a raspberry.

Groaning again, Natasha said, "I'm getting Bruce now."

"Go do so," Fury told her, still staring at Tony.

She headed off in the direction of the Hulk roar, praying that nobody had been injured yet.


	5. Chapter 5

"Bruce!" Natasha called. "Come back!"

She ran passed a few interns, their hair tousled and glasses lopsided. They sat in the mist of scattered papers, looks of confusion on their faces. Natasha disregarded them as she flew past. Another tiny roar was heard.

Panting, she finally found him, his hands gripped on a food cart. Growling, he picked it up and threw it across the hallway, causing a passing agent to duck for cover. "What is that thing?" he sputtered, leaning back against the wall.

"Bruce Banner," Natasha said, running towards Bruce.

"But... isn't Bruce an adult?"

"I'll explain it later." Natasha approached Bruce. "Hi, Bruce. Remember me?"

Bruce looked over, a scowl on his face.

"It's Auntie Nat," she said in a nervous voice. "Now, do you want to come with m-"

She find herself flying through the air and landing hardly on her back. Bruce let go of her wrist and headed towards the direction of the agent against the wall. Gasping for breath, Natasha picked herself up quickly and ran over.

"No Bruce!" She jumped, tackling him. He hit the ground with a large thud. Everything was silent for a moment.

Then he started wailing.

"I don't think you're supposed to tackle a toddler," the agent speculated.

Natasha sent an unamused glance at him before picking up Bruce. "Bruce, I'm sorry," she murmured in his ear. "But you need to stop having temper tantrums. Calm down, Bruce. I'm sorry." She kissed his forehead. His sniffling went away, and suddenly he was shrinking down to regular Bruce.

"We need to find him new clothes," she said, his shorts drooping off his legs.

A moment of silence passed. "Did we almost get taken down by a baby?" the agent asked.

Natasha nodded grimly. "Yeah, all those years of training only to be frazzled by a two-year-old."

The agent cleared his throat. "Agent Romanoff, right?"

She looked up at him. "Yes. And you are...?"

"Agent Peters." He gave a small smile. "Ryan Peters."

"How 'bout you and I forget formalities and go get Bruce some pants?" Natasha said. She caught his pants as they started sliding down his legs.

"Yeah, I think I can do that."

Natasha groaned suddenly. "I need to find Steve!"

"Steve Rogers?" Ryan asked.

"Yeah. All the Avengers are babies and no one knows why!"

Ryan threw a hand to his forehead, exasperated. "Wow."

She sighed, thinking what to do next. "Here. How about you take Bruce out to get pants while I find Steve?"

Ryan looked down at Bruce and then back at Natasha. "Is... that a good idea?"

"It's the only thing we've got. Just make sure to keep Bruce happy and to not let him near anything... explosive."

"Explosive?" Ryan said nervously.

"Let's just say that he's quite the chemist." Natasha handed Ryan Bruce. "I'm going to find Steve now," she said, running off. "Good luck!"

Ryan looked down at Bruce, who's eyes were closed and thumb in mouth. "Wow," Ryan said again, not sure what to do.


End file.
